Shenanigans at Sugar Creek

The winter cold has barely settled over Sugar Creek when Bill Collins and his friends decide to build something they cannot resist: a snowman with an uncanny resemblance to their new teacher, Mr. Black. What begins as harmless fun sets off a chain of mishaps that tests friendships, provokes the ire of Shorty Long with his infamous temper, and forces the whole gang to reckon with what it really means to stand by each other. This is mid-century American childhood at its most vivid: sledding down frozen hills, trading insults and secrets, navigating the peculiar terror of a new teacher who doesn't yet know how to handle a roomful of boys with too much energy and not enough supervision. Paul Hutchens captures something timeless about the way kids move through the world, part mischief, part loyalty, all heart.